Album: Ys
Artist: Joanna Newsom
Year Released: 2006
I really got into this album...
Fall 2009
Favorite songs include...
“Sawdust and Diamonds”
“Emily”
Why it’s so good...
I read somewhere once that Joanna Newsom said she wanted the orchestra to feel separated from her singing and playing the harp. Meant to create a sense of isolation.
This album took me a couple of months to get all the way through. Not because I was uninterested or unimpressed- quite the opposite actually. Because the tracks are so lengthy and even more so because each is dense with picturesque lyrics, it really took me a while to digest each song fully. I wanted to savor each pluck of her harp, each squeak of her voice, each piece of imagery. And in an age when artists writing with movements often comes off as pretentious, she does it in such a fluid manner.
And that’s what she is- an artist. Not merely someone trying to make money off of selling a product.
She created art.
But my favorite thing about this album is her voice. She’s definitely a unique singer- no doubt about that. Once I got used to what some may consider distracting, I found how vulnerable she really is on each track. My heart aches when I hear her ask “Why the long face?”
She makes music sound otherworldly, yet so personal and intimate.
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